I am back – again !!
Sorry about this but I have to get up to date – TODAY. Lots of other stuff starts happening tomorrow !
A few weeks back about 14 people went of a mission to Hwedza Mountain south east of Harare.
Why? – you ask. Well back in 1990 TFC saw a Swee Waxbill up there and put it on an Atlas card. No-one believed her !
Michael Irwin did (and so did I). Michael put out a request for someone to go and check it out and our mission was the result.
It is nice up there………..
View
Even the view from our campsite was cool…..
View from Camp
Where Hwedza Moutain got the name mountain I am not sure. It really is a massif with lots of hills and peaks. It covers about twenty square kilometres. I’ts huge……….
Hwedza Mountain
There are two peaks which are noticeably higher than the others. One of them now houses the inevitable array of telcomms masts.
Cliff face
The east face of Romorehoto has a magnificent cliff face which houses Lanner Falcons, White-necked Ravens and Black Storks.
The other high peak is Dangamvuri……
Fires
……. it had bush fires burning on it’s slopes for the four days we were up looking around.
Dangamvuri
We got to the top and were enthralled by a display given by 30 or 40 Alpine Swifts swooping around at head height Magnificent. So fast !
Once again the haze was very much against us but it made for great sunsets……
Sunset on Hwedza Mountain
Did we find the Swee Waxbill ?
Yes we did !
Swee Waxbill
This picture was actually taken in Juliasdale, where they are to be expected, by Geoff Hawksley. We only found one bird, a male, which had a nest which we also found. TFC has been vindicated ! We were all delighted at the positive result.
Once again thanks for listening. I will be quiet for a while now because tomorrow I leave on another huge and exciting journey !
ANBM and I are driving to Arusha !! That’s right – northern Tanzania. Via Malawi and Mocambique. T”is a long way !
Cheers
Tony
